Black Tabby? Black Smoke Tabby Maybe?

amethyst

TCS Member
Thread starter
Super Cat
Joined
Nov 25, 2016
Messages
948
Purraise
2,850
Location
Alberta, Canada
I'm not sure what color this little guy would be, I realize he may be too young to tell since he is only about 7 weeks. He appeared black at first, but his under layer is coming in light grey/white. You can see it best on his belly, but he is getting light undercoat all over. He wont sit still so the best I can do is when he is sleeping. He is from a litter of orphaned strays I'm raising so I don't know the parents.

Draco's belly.jpg
He is sleeping not dead or being hurt at all, these kittens are seriously the most relaxed sleepers, lol.
DracoNapping.jpg dracosleeping.jpg
 

Attachments

lutece

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 8, 2018
Messages
4,499
Purraise
5,739
He's not a tabby. He is either solid black, or black smoke. Black smoke cats have white at the base of each hair. However, solid black cats can also have "ghost markings" and a grayish undercoat as kittens. You will be able to tell for sure when he is a bit older and those hairs grow in fully. Super cute! :)
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

amethyst

TCS Member
Thread starter
Super Cat
Joined
Nov 25, 2016
Messages
948
Purraise
2,850
Location
Alberta, Canada
Ok I just don't remember my other two black cats having such light colored fur as kittens:think:, but they are 11 and 12 years old now so that was awhile ago, I do remember the ghost markings though. I guess I just have to wait and see, if I get to keep him. Someone already is waiting for the kittens to get a bit older so he can have one :(, I just don't know which one he wants.

Any idea how long before I would know better what his coloration is?
 

lutece

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 8, 2018
Messages
4,499
Purraise
5,739
Black tabby is a thing, I refer to it as licorice tabby and this is our boy Jasper, he is a rescue mog with a handsome coat.
He certainly is handsome! He is probably a black smoke with pronounced ghost markings. Is his coat white (or nearly white) at the base, with black at the tips?
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #6

amethyst

TCS Member
Thread starter
Super Cat
Joined
Nov 25, 2016
Messages
948
Purraise
2,850
Location
Alberta, Canada
Black tabby is a thing, I refer to it as licorice tabby and this is our boy Jasper, he is a rescue mog with a handsome coat.
Draco is definitely not that obviously stripped, but since this thread got revived I'll give an update now that Draco is almost a year and a half. In the right light you can still definitely see the stripes and the base of his fur is a light grey still, then turns black so if you don't part his fur he just looks black.

20201231_164452.jpg 20200905_164930.jpg 20210126_105035[1].jpg
 

MoonstoneWolf

Cat Food Bowl Referee
Top Cat
Joined
Apr 15, 2019
Messages
4,590
Purraise
4,140
Location
St. Louis MO
There's a black marble tabby that runs through my yard. Feral and identical to Tourmaline except his fur is darker and the white on his legs is as prominent as Tourmaline's.
 

lutece

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 8, 2018
Messages
4,499
Purraise
5,739
Draco is definitely not that obviously stripped, but since this thread got revived I'll give an update now that Draco is almost a year and a half. In the right light you can still definitely see the stripes and the base of his fur is a light grey still, then turns black so if you don't part his fur he just looks black.
What lovely, shiny fur he has! Draco appears to be solid black. It's normal for black cats to have slight ghost markings and grayish or brownish undercoat. A black smoke would have a white section at the base of each hair.
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #9

amethyst

TCS Member
Thread starter
Super Cat
Joined
Nov 25, 2016
Messages
948
Purraise
2,850
Location
Alberta, Canada
What lovely, shiny fur he has! Draco appears to be solid black. It's normal for black cats to have slight ghost markings and grayish or brownish undercoat. A black smoke would have a white section at the base of each hair.
His fur is not only shiny but very thick and soft too. :petcat: But yeah, just wanted to show he didn't lighten up more as his adult fur grew in, it's hard to get a good pic of the actual color it is lighter grey at the base then my other black cats but definitely not white. When he was shaved for neuter (he was crypto so they had to shave his belly) you could more clearly see it was just grey not white at the base. So just a light undercoated black cat 😊 probably why his ghost marking stand out in the light.
 

lutece

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 8, 2018
Messages
4,499
Purraise
5,739
Aww, I'd like to pet that soft thick fur, too :redheartpump:

Yes, black cats definitely vary in how pigmented the hair is at the base. My cats are blue, not black, but you can see a similar effect. Some are lighter at the base than others, with more contrast between hair color at the base and the tip. Here are two examples (both of these are solid blue cats, not blue smoke).

PXL_20210111_201136566-2.jpg PXL_20210105_185145025-2.jpg
 

marian100

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Feb 25, 2015
Messages
41
Purraise
8
He certainly is handsome! He is probably a black smoke with pronounced ghost markings. Is his coat white (or nearly white) at the base, with black at the tips?
Only on the belly,
 

lutece

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 8, 2018
Messages
4,499
Purraise
5,739
Only on the belly,
Is it possible to part the hairs and take a picture? I'm curious!

If Jasper doesn't have white hair roots, it's possible that he may be charcoal, although he looks more like smoke to me in his picture. Charcoal cats have a similar appearance to smoke cats with heavy ghost markings, but in the case of charcoal, this appearance is the result of having one copy of agouti inherited from the Asian Leopard Cat, combined with one copy of the solid (non-agouti) allele that is common in domestic cats. Charcoal would indicate that a cat probably has at least one Bengal ancestor, although this might not be a close ancestor. It is possible to do a genetic test for charcoal: Charcoal Pattern in Bengals | Veterinary Genetics Laboratory
 

marian100

TCS Member
Young Cat
Joined
Feb 25, 2015
Messages
41
Purraise
8
We would never bother with a test, he could be anything and we really don't give a hoot. His mum is generational feral normal tabby, ferocious around hoomans trapped by a rescue breaking up a colony at a rubbish tip. She gave birth to a variety of kittens black/white, black, tabby and Jasper. He appears light in this picture because I brightened it to bring out his markings. His colour is astonishing but he has a wonderful nature and is a family member furever I have never been interested in breed tracking. The foster mum had about 30 rescues at her place and I would adopt from her again in a heartbeat.
 

lutece

TCS Member
Top Cat
Joined
Mar 8, 2018
Messages
4,499
Purraise
5,739
My comments are not about breed tracking, they are about your assertion that "black tabby is a thing." Visually, I understand why you would call Jasper a "black tabby," but genetically, a black-based tabby is a brown tabby, which looks different from Jasper. From Jasper's picture, he appears to be either black smoke (genetically solid, not tabby), or charcoal (one ALC agouti allele plus one solid allele).
 
Top